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耍無賴

简耍无赖 · 繁耍無賴

Mandarin · pinyin shuǎ wú lài

to act shamelessly
to behave in a way that leaves others tut-tutting and shaking their heads in disapproval

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Characters in this entry

耍: shuǎ · frolic, play, amuse, play with
無: Look up this written character
賴: Look up this written character
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
赖: lài · rely, depend on; accuse falsely

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4 · shua3 wu2 lai4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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耍無賴 · find source passages ↗ · 耍无赖 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(colloquial) to act shamelessly and unreasonably; to be a rascal
(colloquial) to deny; to not admit; to not acknowledge (responsibility, wrongdoing, a promise, etc.)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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